Christopher Raeburn Menswear S/S13

Raeburn expands his collection for his label's first runway show

Opening his show with the sounds of an owl's call and a short film featuring boys decked out in his signature outerwear and actually flying the nocturnal birds, Christopher Raeburn's show was a much needed calm and collected end to both the day and the first London Collections: Men schedule. Steadily growing in notoriety for his modern, classic take and work with reclaimed technical fabrics, Raeburn stepped up to the challenge of his first runway appearance. "It's the first time that we have done a menswear show and I am pleased with the developments that we have made in the quality and the presentation," says Raeburn after the show. "I think to have things on that level and to have that sort of audience is a marker of how far we have come as a label."

While his outerwear was of course the focus of the collection, newer elements including t-shirts, tailored pieces and denim in collaboration with Levi's, created a full line and added further layers to the brand. "The introduction of the jersey and shirting makes the line feel very much that we are going in the right direction. We have a lot of support and I think that has meant that each season we are doubling our efforts to make both us and them proud," says Raeburn. The collection included some new takes on their previous ideas alongside classic evolutions of the signature jackets, parkas and trenches. Sheer nylons appeared in a number of pieces, as did mesh sleeves, the lightness perhaps a reference taken from the beautiful white birds that opened the show.

In contrast to that super light aesthetic, heavier, protective and durable fabrics including a rubberised cotton and diagonal quilted wools, provided a sense of functionality. Where the mesh may have been influenced by the mood of a bird's flight, these pieces could perhaps be about mechanics of that. "It was all about protection and being able to stay outdoors," the designer explains.